Anyone from Virginia?

horseplaypen

I've been accepted to do a 3-week internship in Waynesboro VA next year, and I'm super excited! I haven't been around to that area of the US since I visited Washington DC when I was really small. I have two date options, late November to early December OR February. I'm going to be driving down from Canada, which makes me a little nervous. So my first question is, what is the weather like in each of those time periods? Is there a better time in your opinion to visit?

Second... any tips or advice? Things to see or do? Things to know or avoid?

n0ob

Nobody interesting around here anyway...(messing with some friends).

rjt1000

I've been accepted to do a 3-week internship in Waynesboro VA next year, and I'm super excited! I haven't been around to that area of the US since I visited Washington DC when I was really small. I have two date options, late November to early December OR February. I'm going to be driving down from Canada, which makes me a little nervous. So my first question is, what is the weather like in each of those time periods? Is there a better time in your opinion to visit?

Second... any tips or advice? Things to see or do? Things to know or avoid?

Waynesboro is a good bit south and west of DC but in the mountains. Normally, December isn't that cold yet but there are times that snow comes early. February is winter, it's cold, always. If you're going to be driving in that area, there's a wonderful stretch of Interstate 81 that goes over Afton Mountain. It has a bad tendency to disappear in a heavy fog. DON'T drive from Waynesboro a few miles north over the mountain if the weather is looking bad. I've crawled through a 10 mile stretch there at about 2MPH several times in the fog.

If I had to do it, I'd do December because it MIGHT not be cold and February is guaranteed to be cold. I hate cold weather. But you're Canadian so what I think of as cold, you probably call springtime. February might get you single digit (F scale, not celsius) nights. December would get into the teens at the worst, usually.

Things to do- in good weather, drive Skyline Drive/BlueRidge Parkway. If you like to ski, there's some ski stuff a bit north of there but again, it's Virginian ski resorts which are pretty tame compared to Vermont or Colorado ski places. Drive to Charlottesville (30 miles, maybe) and play tourist around University of Virginia campus and Monticello, Tom Jefferson's home. If you like to hike, lots of mountain trails to hike around there as part of the Appalachian Trail. You're also near huge national forest. Google Skyline Drive attractions and you'll find some ideas as well.

dirtnap63

Sorrybut when I was skimming through the topics I first read this one as "Anyone from Vagina". I couldn't understand why more people hadn't answered yes. :laugh:

rjt1000

Sorrybut when I was skimming through the topics I first read this one as "Anyone from Vagina". I couldn't understand why more people hadn't answered yes. :laugh:

there's an area of town here named Varina. You can imagine the abuse taken by the many graduates of Varina High School.

horseplaypen

Waynesboro is a good bit south and west of DC but in the mountains. Normally, December isn't that cold yet but there are times that snow comes early. February is winter, it's cold, always. If you're going to be driving in that area, there's a wonderful stretch of Interstate 81 that goes over Afton Mountain. It has a bad tendency to disappear in a heavy fog. DON'T drive from Waynesboro a few miles north over the mountain if the weather is looking bad. I've crawled through a 10 mile stretch there at about 2MPH several times in the fog.

If I had to do it, I'd do December because it MIGHT not be cold and February is guaranteed to be cold. I hate cold weather. But you're Canadian so what I think of as cold, you probably call springtime. February might get you single digit (F scale, not celsius) nights. December would get into the teens at the worst, usually.

Things to do- in good weather, drive Skyline Drive/BlueRidge Parkway. If you like to ski, there's some ski stuff a bit north of there but again, it's Virginian ski resorts which are pretty tame compared to Vermont or Colorado ski places. Drive to Charlottesville (30 miles, maybe) and play tourist around University of Virginia campus and Monticello, Tom Jefferson's home. If you like to hike, lots of mountain trails to hike around there as part of the Appalachian Trail. You're also near huge national forest. Google Skyline Drive attractions and you'll find some ideas as well.

Thank you so much for this reply, it's super helpful! I'll probably go with December then. And thanks for the information about the fog... that's the kind of thing that's great to know in advance!

Hopefully I will get a chance to do some hiking, I've seen so many beautiful photos of the Blue Ridge mountains but I didn't really put two and two together to realize that was the area I'd be in. I'm actually really excited about that, they're so iconic and I'd love to see them!

rjt1000

Waynesboro is a good bit south and west of DC but in the mountains. Normally, December isn't that cold yet but there are times that snow comes early. February is winter, it's cold, always. If you're going to be driving in that area, there's a wonderful stretch of Interstate 81 that goes over Afton Mountain. It has a bad tendency to disappear in a heavy fog. DON'T drive from Waynesboro a few miles north over the mountain if the weather is looking bad. I've crawled through a 10 mile stretch there at about 2MPH several times in the fog.

If I had to do it, I'd do December because it MIGHT not be cold and February is guaranteed to be cold. I hate cold weather. But you're Canadian so what I think of as cold, you probably call springtime. February might get you single digit (F scale, not celsius) nights. December would get into the teens at the worst, usually.

Things to do- in good weather, drive Skyline Drive/BlueRidge Parkway. If you like to ski, there's some ski stuff a bit north of there but again, it's Virginian ski resorts which are pretty tame compared to Vermont or Colorado ski places. Drive to Charlottesville (30 miles, maybe) and play tourist around University of Virginia campus and Monticello, Tom Jefferson's home. If you like to hike, lots of mountain trails to hike around there as part of the Appalachian Trail. You're also near huge national forest. Google Skyline Drive attractions and you'll find some ideas as well.

Thank you so much for this reply, it's super helpful! I'll probably go with December then. And thanks for the information about the fog... that's the kind of thing that's great to know in advance!

Hopefully I will get a chance to do some hiking, I've seen so many beautiful photos of the Blue Ridge mountains but I didn't really put two and two together to realize that was the area I'd be in. I'm actually really excited about that, they're so iconic and I'd love to see them!

Funny coincidence, my brother and sister in law just moved to Shenandoah valley, about 25 miles north of that area. They were in Phoenix and are moving back to the east coast after being west coasters for 30 years. Job opportunity came up, they took the shot and moved over Christmas/New Years week.